Arrested Belarusian blogger: I prefer being in prison and clear conscience to admitting guilt
Photojournalist Anton Matolka received a letter from blogger Eduard Palchys aka Jhon Silver who was arrested in Russia’s Bryansk, transferred to Belarus and then put in Zhodino jail.
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“When it comes to [the arrest in] Bryansk, it is a long story, one can write a novel about it. In short, when I was going home, a group of plainclothed persons got me off the train. And then … do you know the film The Usual Suspects with Kevin Spacey in the lead role? If I’m not mistaken, Spacey won an Oscar for it. And another Oscar was given for its screenplay. My story is pretty much the same as in the movie, if anyone is interested, just watch it,” says Eduard.
“I am not going to admit guilt and repent. I prefer to serve the term and have a clear conscience ,” he writes.
The Editor of 1863x.com website is sending regards and expressing gratitude for support.
Jhon Silver created 1863x.com, a blog dedicated to the current political developments in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, as well as Belarusian history and culture. The unsigned materials sharply criticized the regimes of Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Vladimir Putin.
According to Silver, two criminal cases were brought against him in 2015 for his activities in the blog – for allegedly inciting ethnic strife (in particular, for the article ‘Kill the Russian World’) and spreading pornography.
The blogger decided to hide in Ukraine. All the while he lived in Kyiv, from where he continued to work on the blog. But when the blogger went to a meeting in Russia in January 2016, he was arrested and put in jail. At the beginning of 2016 Sputnik i Pogrom, an extreme right-wing Russian organization, reported that the real name of the ‘Russophobe from Belarus’ is Eduard Palchys.
Then Palchys was transferred from Russia’s Bryansk jail to Belarus.
The blogger may face up to five years of imprisonment for ‘inciting hatred’ and up to two or for years in jail – for allegedly distributing pornography, The charges are pointless and artificial, Belarusian human rights defenders say.
